Dredging the Goodwin Sands

[Bob Stay]

The Port of Dover is building a new marina, with the associated hideous blocks of expensive flats etc, and will close the present marina.

They have applied for permission to dredge the Goodwins for sand and gravel. Various groups are protesting, there is a petition going etc. (perhaps a more computer-literate poster could do a link?)

I believe the sands are deep and constantly churning around, hence the square-rigger masts and other spooky things rising to the top, then disappearing by the next tide.

The sands are the graves of thousands of mariners, presumably going back to neolithic dugouts, and must contain unknown and archeologically priceless wrecks and artefacts.

Obviously these are, with present technology, very hard to recover except by chance. However look at the new advances which allow stunning historic wrecks to be found and raised..if they are still undisturbed..

Protest groups spring up like mushrooms these days against almost any new enterprise, but I wonder if in this case they have a point?

Mainly because of what's down there, and who, I can imagine the place is haunted/cursed and the Goodies will claim yet more lives..

So dredging the Goodwins sounds to me like a bad idea, although it's probably not a new one..

 

[johnalison]

Dover is a useful stop but the area around the marinas is a bit sordid. The Granville is sheltered and comfortable but walking across the road to shop at the garage is not likely to put you in the holiday mood. I haven't seen the marina plans but I don't have confidence that it will be any better than, say, Eastbourne. Some foreign harbours such as Dives make a good job of developing harbours, so it is possible. I don't have a strong opinion about the Goodwin sands, but I would prefer that they dredged the Pye sands and made my life easier getting into Walton.

 

[Niffler]

The Goodwins are the equivalent of a war grave, thousands and thousands have died there and they should be left, strange and dangerous sands that can swallow a ship in one tide and surely haunted.

 

[Biggles Wader]

I recall they did the same thirty odd years ago to build the now defunct hoverport.They produced a huge haul of Roman coins which ended up on the beach,many still there I would think.
There shouldnt be a huge amount needed to fill in the Granville dock and Tidal basin and Im told some of it will come from demolishion rubble from the town centre developement.What is really needed is for something to be done about the A20 which runs just inland from the marina and cuts the town in half with hundreds of HGVs either speeding through or stuck in jams.Pigs might fly.

 

[Seajet]

I'm completely with BobStay on this, with future technology the Goodwin Sands are a treasure chest of ships which will make the Mary Rose look about as ancient & significant as a Macgregor !

Disturbing old graves is a different matter, though I suppose one could say the sailors who perished are very unlikely to be anywhere near their wrecks; it wasn't like going down trapped in a sub or steel warship, though no doubt there are plenty of those there too.

There's enough vandalism to history being done building houses on green fields, I'm sure Dover can manage something not quite so ghastly as present without destroying the Goodwins.

I remember a friend who worked in archeology in Somerset, when the group discovered previously unknown Barrow graves, they kept the locations secret and did not attempt digs, thinking they'd leave them intact for future technology - what an unselfish, far-sighted idea...

 

[Gwylan]

Dover and the marina development is a waste of good glitter!

 

[Sandy]

Plenty of sand in the Exe they can have.

 

[Habebty]

Personally, I like the lovely old granite walls of the Granville, and tidal dock, and will be sorry to see them go. From their website, Dover Marina will move to the anchorage and turn into a Portland style characterless boat park, but will be more convenient as a passage port. Shame to lose a lot of industrial archeology. As for the Goodwinds, I thought they were protected, and certainly should be. Surely it would be better to dredge the Varne which is slap bang in the middle of the SW traffic lane?

 

[Daydream believer]

What a load of twaddle
It is rubbish like this that stops projects going ahead for ages and raises costs all caused by stupid nitwits
Dig the f..ing sands up & get on with it & stop wasting money on total baloney


As for new marina in Dover-- well there you may have a point!!
Still it will make it more attractive for when the French have another go at buying it all up in a few years when we run out of something to sell & the next tranche of politicians forget why we stopped the last sell off

 

[BabySharkDooDooDooDooDoo]

Personally, I like the lovely old granite walls of the Granville, and tidal dock

I have a certain fondness for the tidal dock but found Granville invariably depressing (particularly while the gates were shut), possibly due to the many days spent stuck there waiting for the weather and tide

 

[johnalison]

I have a certain fondness for the tidal dock but found Granville invariably depressing (particularly while the gates were shut), possibly due to the many days spent stuck there waiting for the weather and tide

I don't think it is so much the dock which is depressing as the surroundings, and the fact that so often the weather is vile, which is why we are there. The town is not much of an attraction, and not good for shopping essentials. There are only so many times one wants to visit the castle, wonderful though it is, so I usually end up wandering around the western heights. If you're lucky you may find the Grand Shaft open, which is definitely worth a view.

 

[savageseadog]

What a load of twaddle
It is rubbish like this that stops projects going ahead for ages and raises costs all caused by stupid nitwits
Dig the f..ing sands up & get on with it & stop wasting money on total baloney


As for new marina in Dover-- well there you may have a point!!
Still it will make it more attractive for when the French have another go at buying it all up in a few years when we run out of something to sell & the next tranche of politicians forget why we stopped the last sell off

It will make a decent disembarkation point for the refugees.

 

[Serin]

There are only so many times one wants to visit the castle, wonderful though it is, so I usually end up wandering around the western heights. If you're lucky you may find the Grand Shaft open, which is definitely worth a view.

The bronze age ships (discovered when they were digging an underpass for the A13) are certainly worth seeing. They are fascinating. In the museum.

 

[Resolution]

What a load of twaddle
It is rubbish like this that stops projects going ahead for ages and raises costs all caused by stupid nitwits
Dig the f..ing sands up & get on with it & stop wasting money on total baloney

+1 but could have been phrased a little less brutally!

 

[Seajet]

Daydream Believer & Resolution,

by that logic we might as well tarmac over the entire UK, it would make getting around much easier, sod history, who needs a ' green and pleasant land ' if ditching it for eternity will shave 10 minutes off your - much - more - important - during - the tiny - blip - of our - lifetimes travel time ?...

 

[Daydream believer]

It will make a decent disembarkation point for the refugees.

Correction( in a politically correct form to avoid further conflict) "economic migrants"

 

[Daydream believer]

The bronze age ships (discovered when they were digging an underpass for the A13) are certainly worth seeing. They are fascinating. In the museum.

If you are talking about the underpass at the orsett cock then add up the cost of the purchase of the " limes" ( the house to house the long haired diggers in) & the time taken & the cost of the dig & you might not think it such a good idea

 

[Daydream believer]

Daydream Believer & Resolution,

by that logic we might as well tarmac over the entire UK, it would make getting around much easier, sod history, who needs a ' green and pleasant land ' if ditching it for eternity will shave 10 minutes off your - much - more - important - during - the tiny - blip - of our - lifetimes travel time ?...

Well mr corbyn & co does not seem to like our history so are we now going to start cherry picking the bits that suit you because you have a boat (that will soon be consigned to history)

 

[Seajet]

WTF has Corbyn got to do with anything, except disappearing up his own transom ?

If you think I'm a labour type, man are you mistaken; I just hated Cameron more but May might be warming to my way of thinking - the only sort of vaguely political band I align myself with is CPRE

Campaign fot the Protection of Rural England - though I care about the rest of the UK and indeed the world just as much - .

So greedy short sighted people don't build on bits of history which once gone can never be recovered...

 

[Resolution]

Daydream Believer & Resolution,

by that logic we might as well tarmac over the entire UK, it would make getting around much easier, sod history, who needs a ' green and pleasant land ' if ditching it for eternity will shave 10 minutes off your - much - more - important - during - the tiny - blip - of our - lifetimes travel time ?...

Not at all the point to which I was agreeing. I live in a delightful part of the country and greatly appreciate bits of the rural England to which you refer.
But what irks me in Britain is our preoccupation for looking backwards through rose-tinted spectacles, at times when we should be looking forward to how we can make better things. Vast parts of our infrastructure and most of our housing stem from the days of great Victorian energy and activity, are now obsolete and should be replaced with newer better technology. If we don't get a move on and do this, then there are a few billion Asians who have are creating better technology and a modern world, and will leave us in their dust.
My worry is for my children, not for myself.
Peter